Johnson grabs Fontana Cup pole
Jimmie Johnson claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying for Sunday's Pepsi 500 at Fontana's Auto Club Speedway
The reigning champion set a lap of 39.912 seconds at an average speed of 180.397 mph. The Californian was the only driver to lap below the forty-second mark, bouncing from a disappointing race last week at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Back in February, Johnson had already started his home race from pole position, although back then the rain handed him the top spot on the grid. That eventually helped him along the rain-disrupted event where he finished second behind Carl Edwards.
"It was a great lap for us, " Johnson said. "The weather certainly cooled off and that 84 car (Allmendinger) had us nervous at the end. The 9 (Kahne) did as well. All in all we did the lap in the heat of the day and there's nowhere better to start than up front."
AJ Allmendinger claimed his best ever qualifying effort in the Sprint Cup series being the last driver to complete his lap, as he had to qualify on time once again. The Red Bull racer will start from the front row of the grid for the first time in his career, completing an all-Californian first row.
Another Californian, four-times champion Jeff Gordon, had been second up until Allmendinger set his lap and will thus start from third, sharing the second row of the grid with Gillett Evernham's Kasey Kahne, the fastest Dodge runner of the field.
Kahne's teammate Patrick Carpentier had another good Friday rounding up the top-five in qualifying, followed by his other teammate Elliot Sadler.
Points' leader Kyle Busch will start the race from eleventh, while his main rival and winner of February's race at the track, Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, will take the green flag only from a disappointing 26th place on the starting grid, despite having been fastest in practice.
From those drivers currently 'in the bubble' as far as the Chase goes, Clint Bowyer was the lowest qualifier, ending up only 31st.
Australian Marcos Ambrose hit the wall during his qualifying run but was still able to make the field on time. Meanwhile Tony Raines will have to pack up early once again, as he was the only car left out of the grid for Sunday's 500-miler.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 180.397 39.912 2. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 179.659 40.076 + 0.164 3. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 179.565 40.097 + 0.185 4. Kasey Kahne Dodge 179.158 40.188 + 0.276 5. Patrick Carpentier Dodge 178.860 40.255 + 0.343 6. Elliott Sadler Dodge 178.492 40.338 + 0.426 7. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 178.434 40.351 + 0.439 8. Dave Blaney Toyota 178.381 40.363 + 0.451 9. Kurt Busch Dodge 178.165 40.412 + 0.500 10. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 178.134 40.419 + 0.507 11. Kyle Busch Toyota 178.125 40.421 + 0.509 12. David Reutimann Toyota 178.015 40.446 + 0.534 13. Jamie McMurray Ford 178.006 40.448 + 0.536 14. Tony Stewart Toyota 177.857 40.482 + 0.570 15. Greg Biffle Ford 177.747 40.507 + 0.595 16. Casey Mears Chevrolet 177.615 40.537 + 0.625 17. Ryan Newman Dodge 177.488 40.566 + 0.654 18. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 177.454 40.574 + 0.662 19. Brian Vickers Toyota 177.392 40.588 + 0.676 20. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 177.187 40.635 + 0.723 21. Denny Hamlin Toyota 177.183 40.636 + 0.724 22. David Ragan Ford 177.130 40.648 + 0.736 23. Juan Montoya Dodge 176.982 40.682 + 0.770 24. Bobby Labonte Dodge 176.939 40.692 + 0.780 25. Regan Smith Chevrolet 176.917 40.697 + 0.785 26. Carl Edwards Ford 176.791 40.726 + 0.814 27. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 176.722 40.742 + 0.830 28. Ken Schrader Toyota 176.397 40.817 + 0.905 29. Paul Menard Chevrolet 176.393 40.818 + 0.906 30. Michael Waltrip Toyota 176.337 40.831 + 0.919 31. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 176.302 40.839 + 0.927 32. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 175.983 40.913 + 1.001 33. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 175.880 40.937 + 1.025 34. Travis Kvapil Ford 175.764 40.964 + 1.052 35. Mike Skinner Toyota 175.571 41.009 + 1.097 36. Robby Gordon Dodge 175.426 41.043 + 1.131 37. Matt Kenseth Ford 175.357 41.059 + 1.147 38. Kyle Petty Dodge 175.357 41.059 + 1.147 39. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 175.264 41.081 + 1.169 40. Marcos Ambrose Ford 175.187 41.099 + 1.187 41. Reed Sorenson Dodge 175.029 41.136 + 1.224 42. David Gilliland Ford 173.273 41.553 + 1.641 43. Johnny Sauter Dodge 174.617 41.233 + 1.321
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